Potosi

General | Lake Tarapeya | The mine

The Mine

The trip to the mine involved a local bus into the camposino quarter of the town where we bought presents for the miners - dynamite, TNT, detonators, cigarettes etc.. then an uncomfortable ride in an overloaded taxi - I had to use the boot as there were not seats left! Then there was walk up the hill during which Roberto, our guide, suddenly decided to sort out the acetylene lamps. He and his helper, Nancy, sat down on the hill side, with temperatures plummeting in the late afternoon, and cleaned out the lamps, refilled them with carbide and water, and generally made sure they worked properly.

Above, a miner setting a charge in the Potosi mine and then tamping it home with a long stick. Another miner climbs out of a lower level where 14 charges had been laid and the fuses lit. We had to get out of this area while the charges went off but, unfortunately as we tried to leave, a truck full of rock jumped the rails of the railway trapping us right above the chamber that was being dynamited. It was the only exit. We counted all 14 charges going off with fingers, toes and anything else that we could find crossed, and with small shards of rock, dislodged from the walls and roof of our tunnel by the explosions, falling on our heads and shoulders. No harm done on this occasion, thank goodness.


Later we were taken into a working chamber - the owner was absent - and shown just how dark and eerie it was with no light. The acetylene lamps were turned off for about two minutes going on 3 hours! We could hear charges going off in other parts of the mine, near and far.

As Roberto explained that he had been lost in the mine for three days once with no food, water light or heat he persuaded Diane to use the coca leaves to calm her nerves.

In the picture above, taken after the lamps were relit, the acetylene flame is very close to the bag containing dynamite, detonators and TNT (that we had legally bought over the counter of a small shop) to give to the miners as presents just before descending into this hole in the mountain. Mere posession of this much explosive would probably get us a 20 year stretch in gaol in the UK!

While the lights were out Roberto explained that the unit of time in the mine was dictated by the cigarette. For example, on a 15 minute break there was just enough time to smoke one cigarette. At these altitudes with the rarefied atmosphere, it took 15 minutes for the cigarette to burn. So, during the 'lunch' break whilst the miners chewed on the coca leaves to depress the pangs of hunger, a miner would smoke 4 cigarettes and return to work after one hour.

Oh yes, Roberto told us that he became a guide after getting lost in the mine. "Too dangerous being a miner", he said. Undoubtedly a lot more profitable as well. Good decision, Roberto. He is a great guide.